Crude oil falls as US inventories build

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Oil prices fell below $36 yesterday on more evidence that US storage facilities are bulging with crude.

Light, sweet crude for March delivery fell $1.61 to settle at $35.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

A weekly report from the Energy Information Administration showed inventories jumped 4.7 million barrels for the week ended Feb. 6, easily surpassing the 3.4 million barrels forecast by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

Including last week's buildup, crude inventories have increased more than 30 million barrels in the last five weeks.

But gasoline futures soared when the same report showed US inventories had declined 2.6 million barrels, surprising traders who expected stockpiles to grow 900,000 barrels.

The national average price for a gallon of regular gas rose 1.2 cents to $1.94, according to AAA, the Oil Price Information Service, and Wright Express. That is about 15 cents a gallon above what it was a month ago.